Bill's goal: Keep smelters, jobs in Kentucky

8:21 PM,
Feb. 19, 2013

Ben Waide

Written by

Ben Waide
| Special to The Courier-Journal

On Aug. 21 2012, Century Aluminum of Hawesville, Ky., an aluminum smelter plant, gave its one-year notice to Big Rivers Electric that it would no longer be purchasing power from the cooperative. In December 2012, Big Rivers notified the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) that it intended to ask for a rate increase to make up for the lost revenue from Century. That rate request was officially filed with the PSC on Jan. 15, 2013, and would increase electric rates for the remaining Big Rivers customers by almost $75 million per year.